1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence and for the treatment of the incompetent cervix during pregnancy. More particularly, the present invention is particularly adaptable for employment in operations such as that entitled "Urethrovaginal Fixation to Cooper's Ligament for Correction of Recurrent Stress Incontinence". However, it is understood that the use of the present system can be utilized in other operations whereby support or clamping of the body portions have been previously performed by means of sutures or clamps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, in operations such as referred to above and as described in an article entitled "Urethrovaginal Fixation to Cooper's Ligament (Burch) in the Treatment of Incontinence" by Erfurth Nielsen and Finn Lundvall of Copenhagen, Denmark, the article having been published in Acta Scand. Suppl. 433: 118-120, 1973, which discloses the use of catgut sutures which are applied on each side of Cooper's Ligament that are passed through the perivaginal fascia on each side of the urethra after dissection of the space of Retzius and adequate exposure of the bladder and urethra. Each suture is then passed through the most easily reached point of Cooper's ligament and tied. However, this procedure has presented serious problems as, for example, the procedure is very time consuming for the surgeon and the patient is exposed for an excessive period to trauma. Also, the sutures do not necessarily uniformly distribute the stress as in many instances, some will be tighter than others. In addition, it has been found that in a number of instances, the sutures break if the patient should have a coughing spell or be subjected to other spasms.
U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 576,960 filed May 13, 1975, now U.S. Pat. 4,037,603, of applicant has improved on the system disclosed by Nielsen et al by providing a suture comprising a highly flexible, elongated strip of surgical steel having means for interlocking each end of the suture to selected portions along the strip in treating incontinence in female patients. Moreover, the sutures require greater precision in their manufacture and more dexterity by the surgeon to insert in place.
For the treatment of the incompetent cervix during pregnancy an operation as described in an article entitled "A New Method of Operative Treatment of Habitual Abortions in the Second Trimester of Pregnancy" by V.N. Shirodkar has been published in Antiseptic 52:299, 1955. However, the procedure described by Shirodkar requires the stitching of sutures so as to be time consuming and may cause scarring.